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Home , Francis Xavier

CHURCH HISTORY FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL

Published by: Advocate John Joseph Nalloor

April, 1951: Mr. T. P. Varghese Master donates Agathimandiram to the Mar Thoma Church. The Late Mr. T. P. Varghese of Nellikunnu near Trichur established the “Ravi Varma Institute Home” in 1941 in his 8 acre property for charitable work. For 10 years he continued his noble work and in April 1951 donated the entire institution and all its properties free of cost to the Mar Thoma Church which later became the Trichur Ravi Varma Agathimandiram. At present more than 40 inmates are living at this Agathimandiram.

1 April, 1909: Birth of Rev. K. T. Thomas, Karimparampil Anaprampal, Sihora Ashram. Rev. Thomas became a priest in 1941. He is one of the founders of the Sihora Ashram in Madhya Pradesh. Achen led the formation of many of our parishes in North , including Delhi, Jabalpur, Bhilai, Bilaspur, Nagpur, Katni, Agra, Bombay, Poona and Kirkee. He was called home on 8 February, 1989, and was buried in Sihora.

1 April, 1548: Parliament orders the publication of the (BCP). Though is rightly credited with the final form of the BCP, he worked with a committee of scholars, including Reformer Martin Bucer, to shape his famous liturgy. The Book of Common Prayer is the common title of a number of prayer books of the and used throughout the . The first book, published in 1549, in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English following the breach with . Prayer books, unlike books of prayers, contain the words of structured (or liturgical) services of worship. The work of 1549 was the first prayer book to contain the forms of service for daily and Sunday worship in English and to do so within a single volume; it included Morning Prayer, evening prayer, the Litany, and Holy Communion. The book included the other occasional services in full: the orders for , confirmation, marriage, 'prayers to be said with the sick' and a funeral service.

2 April, 1877: Fundamentalist Baptist evangelist Mordecai Ham is born in Allen County, Kentucky. At the end of his ministry, he claimed one million converts, including Billy Graham, who made a declaration of faith at a 1934 Ham meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.

2 April, 1893: (Palm Sunday) Kakkassery K. M. Varghese makes his maiden sermon at his home . K. M. Varghese (b.1868) got married at the age of 12 to his wife who was only 8 years old. A year later his wife died and he remarried. In 1895, in a meeting of the Church authorities (Samasthalochana Sanghom) held in the Puthencavu Mar Thoma Church, amendments were made to its prevailing rules to ordain Mr. K. M. Varghese (during this time married men were not ordained by the Church). In 1895, he was

1 www.nalloorlibrary.com ordained a by Most. Rev. Titus I at the Paliyekkarara Church in Tiruvalla. Many in his home parish were not willing to accept him as a deacon as he was a married man. He was the translator of the first Maramon Convention held in 1895. He became priest in 1896, but never celebrated Holy Communion in his life. He was called home on 20 June, 1897.

3 April, 1826: Bishop dies in Bathtub. Bishop Heber (b.21 Apr.1783) was the second Anglican Bishop of Calcutta. He was on his way to Travancore to visit the Syrian Christian Church Leaders, but died while having a bath at Thiruchirappalli, on 2 April, 1826. Heber died at the age of 42 of a cerebral hemorrhage. He is buried at St. John’s Church, Thiruchirappalli, , India (north side of the altar). It is said that on the day he died he baptized 42 people. By another account, he suffered a sun-stroke after preaching against the evils of their caste system to a large outdoor crowd.

3 April, 1972: Death of Rev. P. O. , Karthikapally (b.19 Jan 1907). After passing his TTC examination, he taught at the Karapuram School, and then went for theological training in Kottayam and became a deacon on 2 Jun 1949 and priest 1 Nov 1949. For many years he taught at the Bible Institute in Kompadi, Tiruvalla.

4 April, 1968: Civil rights leader and Baptist minister King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. He was born Luther King, Jr. (b.15 Jan 1929), but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

4 April, 1984: Death of Rev. P. Samuel, Valliyatharayil, Chettikulangara, (b.7 Jun 1910). Rev. P. Samuel became a deacon on 4 Mar.1935 and priest on 13 Sep.1936. He served 12 parishes including Alwaye, Kozhencherry, , Secundrabad and Madras. For a few years he served the Education Service and was the principal of the Methodist School and St.Andrew’s School in Borneo.

4 April, 1904: Birth of Rev. O. J. Joseph Malpan (d.20 Apr.1982). Achen was the son of Joseph Malpan, Olasseril, Manganam. He was one of the rank holders of the Syriac Language Examination of University. For many years he was a teacher in M. T. Seminary School and Mar Thoma Theological Seminary in Kottayam. In addition, he was an expert in treating eye ailments.

5 April, 1811: Robert Raikes (b.14 Sept.1736), founder of English Sunday schools in 1780, dies. Raikes built his Sunday schools not for respectable and well-mannered children of believers, but for (in one woman's description) "multitudes of wretches who, released on that day from employment, spend their day in noise and riot." In 4 years,

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250,000 students attended the schools, by Raikes's death, 500,000, and by 1831, 1.25 million.

5 April, 1922: Panditha Ramabhai passes away. Pandita Ramabai (b.23Apr.1858) was an eminent Indian Christian social reformer and activist. She was a poet, scholar, and a champion of improvement in the plight of Indian women. As a social reformer, she championed the cause of emancipation of Indian women. A widely travelled lady, she visited most parts of India, and even went to England and the U.S. Her father was Anant Shastri Dongre, a scholar of Sanskrit, and her mother was Lakshmibai. They were a Chitpawan Brahmin couple. Her father taught her Puranic Sanskrit and she made quite a name for herself as a scholar in Puranic circles. She acquired great reputation as a Sanskrit Scholar. Fluent in seven languages, she translated the Bible into Marathi, her mother tongue. Deeply impressed with her knowledge and ability, Sanskrit scholars, at the Calcutta University, conferred on her the titles "Saraswati" and "Pandita". Although she was a Brahmin, she married (13th Nov.1880) Babu Bipin Behari Madhavi, a Bengali lawyer at Bankipore (Patna, Bihar), who was not a Brahmin, and this created a stir in the orthodox circles of Hindu society. Bereft after her husband's death shortly thereafter, she found herself unable to play the role traditionally reserved for upper-caste Hindu widows, and converted to , an action which created a scandal even in liberal Calcutta society.

She was given a scholarship to study medicine in England; when she arrived there, she found that her hearing was defective and so she could not participate in lectures. While in England, she wrote the feminist classic "The High Caste Hindu Woman", a scathing attack on traditional practices including widowhood, polygamy and child marriage.

She established the Mukti Mission in 1889 as a refuge for young widows who were abused by their families. In Marathi, her native tongue, the word mukti means liberation. The Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission is still active today, providing housing, education, vocational training, and medical services, for many needy groups including widows, orphans, and the blind. Mukti Mission is located near the city of Pune (Poona) and enjoys support from several foreign countries including the and .

In 1919, the King of England conferred on her the Kaiser-i-Hind award, one of the highest awards an Indian could receive during the period of the British Raj. Her contributions as a builder of modern India were recognized by the Government of India by issuing a commemorative postal stamp on 26th Oct 1989 in honour of her. The work of Pandita Ramabai continues today as a tribute to the Saviour whom she faithfully followed, Jesus Christ.

5 April, 1871: Birth of Hymn writer T. J. Andrews. Born as a member of the Thazhathu family of Muledathu, Kottayam, he spent much of his life as a in Central Travancore. His famous Hymn “Yeshu en adisthaanam” was written in his sick bed. He

3 www.nalloorlibrary.com narrated the Hymn to his son as he was bedridden. He passed away on his 72nd birthday, in 1942. Hymn nos.200 (187), 219(204), 237(215), 258(368), 317(312), and 406(355) in our Hymn book are written by him.

6 April, 1839: Malpan ex-communicates his cousin for plucking vegetables on Sunday. Sunday was a day of rest for the Syrian Christians and no one was allowed to do any work on that day. Abraham Malpan, vicar of the Maramon Mar Thoma parish, ex-communicated his cousin brother because he uprooted a Chembu (a vegetable similar to potato) on a Sunday morning to make vegetable curry. He was taken back only after a proper written apology.

7 April, 1541: starts his journey to India from . On his 35th birthday, Francis Xavier, cofounder of the (Jesuits), sets sail from Lisbon, , for , India. The first Roman Missionary in India, he traveled to , , and other countries in Asia. It is hard to say how many people Xavier, the Roman Catholic patron of all missions, converted; the figure goes as high as 1 million, but modern scholars peg the number around 30,000, Jesuits claim 700,000.

7 April, 1960: Rev. T. B. Bahanan, Chennithala passes away (b.16 May 1903). Achen was one of the first batch students of Kottayam Mar Thoma Seminary. He became a deacon on 7 Sep 1928 and priest on 13 Jun 1929. After serving Mar Thoma Church for 10 years he joined the Church of (CSI) with the permission of the Mar Thoma Metropolitan.

7 April, 1988: Death of Rev. P. G. Oommen, Poyyanil Kaalayil, Kozhencherry (b.6 Jun 1901). He became a deacon on 23 Jul.1932 and priest on 12 Jul 1933. He served 37 parishes including Kundara, Elanthoor, Keekozhoor and Konni. For a few years he taught at schools in Vazhoor and Palakkad.

8 April, 1546: At its fourth session, the adopts 's translation of the Bible (called the ), completed in 405, as the only authentic Latin text of the Scriptures. It became the official Bible of the Roman . The Vulgate is an early Fifth Century version of the Bible in Latin, and largely the result of the labours of Jerome, who was commissioned by Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of old Latin translations. Its Old Testament is the first Latin version translated directly from the Hebrew Tanakh, rather than the Greek Septuagint. It became the definitive and officially promulgated Latin version of the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church, and ultimately took the name versio vulgata, which means "the published translation". There are 76 books in the Clementine edition of the Vulgate Bible: 46 in the Old Testament, 27 in the , and three in the Apocrypha.

8 April, 1974: Rev. K. Chacko, (b. 22 Nov.1896) Kumbumkattu, Valakam passes away. Rev. K. Chacko became a deacon on 19 Aug 1919 and priest in 1921. He served 9

4 www.nalloorlibrary.com parishes including Valakom, Panaveli, and Karikkam. For a few years he was the President of the Valakam Grama Panchayath.

8 April, 1896: Birth of Rev.A .G. Varghese, Alummoottil, Mattam, Mavelikkara (d.12 Jun 1988). After passing his ESLC he started his career as a government school teacher and voluntary evangelist. He became a deacon on 6 Jun 1923 and priest on 10 Feb.1924. During his 42 years career he served 12 parishes including Alleppey, Trichur and Tiruvalla. For a few years he was the honorary Vicar of the Karippuzha Parish.

9 April, 1945: The Gestapo (Secret police in during Hitler’s time) hangs German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (b.4 Feb.1906), after discovering his plot to kill Adolf Hitler. Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, participant in the German Resistance movement against Nazism, and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was involved in plots planned by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He was arrested in March 1943, imprisoned, and eventually hanged just before the end of the World War II in Europe.

10 April, 1913: Birth of Alexander Mar Thoma Valiya Metropolitan. Alexander Mar Thoma was born in 1913 as the son of Rev. M. C. George (17 Apr.1874-23 Oct.1923), Maliyekkal, Kuriannoor. Before his ordination, he was a teacher at Kottayam C M S High School for 12 years. He took his Ph.D. on the Bhagavad-Gita (Holy Book of the Hindus) from the Kennedy School of Mission of the Hartford Seminary foundation. He was ordained in 1945 and became bishop on 23 May, 1953. He became our Metropolitan in 1976 and passed away on 11 January 2000.

10 April, 1829: English evangelist William Booth (d.20 Aug.1912), founder and first general of the Army, is born in Nottingham. In 1865, Booth and his wife, Catherine, set out to reach the desperate poor and unchurched by conducting open-air meetings with lively music; preaching in theaters, bars, and jails; and creating large-scale plans to relieve poverty. His organization launched what became one of the most successful religious revivals in the modern era. Salvation Army started its work in India on 19 Sept.1882. The Salvation Army has no Holy Communion, Baptism or other sacraments.

10 April, 1907: Birth of Rev. C. M. Thomas (Thomakutty) Cherukara Paruvelithundyil, Ayroor (d.20 Apr 2001). Achen was the younger brother of Late. Dr. Juhanon Mar Thoma Metropolitan. Thomakutty became a deacon on 12 Jul 1948 and priest afterwards. He served the Mar Thoma parishes in Ayroor, Kottayam, Pala and Kuriannoor. He was the principal of the Kalalayam in Cherkolpuzha and the president of the Carmel Agathimandiram in Ayroor. His wife Mrs. Mariamma Thomas was the daughter of Very Rev. V. P. Mammen Kasseessa.

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10 April, 1982: Death of Rev. N. M. Philipose, Nediyakalayil, Naranganam, Kozhencherry (b.23 Mar.1902). After his education in Madurai American College, and Kottayam seminary he became a deacon on 24 Nov 1927 and priest on 24 Nov. 1928. He served 19 Parishes including Kuriannoor, Kottayam and Ayroor.

10 April, 1909: Birth of Rev. C. V. John, Chirapurathu, Managanam (d.2 Sep 1979). After his theological training from Theological College in Serampore he became a priest in 1938. He started as a teacher at the M.T. Seminary High School, Kottayam and then became a teacher at Mar Thoma Theological Seminary. He was the Vicar of the Jerusalem MTC, Kottayam, St. Peter’s MTC, Manganam, and the secretary of the North Division of the Church. For two years, from 1956, he served as a student chaplain in USA. In 1963, he became the Principal of the M. T. Seminary. Through his hard work the seminary was upgraded to B.D. Level in 1974. Achen was the second defendant in the Case (Dr. Juhanon Mar Thoma was the first defendant) and was examined by the court for many days. His statements during the trial regarding the faith and practices of the Church are commendable. Achen was a gifted orator and writer.

10 April, 1911: Birth of Rev. K. M. Thomas, Konnanilkunnathil, Kuriannoor (d.23 Aug.2000). Rev. K. M. Thomas became priest on 28 April 1952. For 12 years he was a member of the National council of YMCA s in India, Burma and Ceylon. For three years he worked with the CSSM ministry in Kerala. He served as the General Secretary of the Mar Thoma Voluntary Evangelists association. He has authored many books.

11 April, 1988: Bishop Easow Mar Timotheos passes away at Port Blair in Andamans Islands. Bishop Easow Mar Timotheos (b.25 Nov 1932) was a member of the Valiyaparampil Family of Thonniyamala near Pathanamthitta. He was a permanent member of the Sihora Ashram from 1951-1972. He became a deacon on 15 Oct. 1961; priest on 4 March 1962, Ramban on 11 January 1975 and Bishop on 8 Feb 1975. His life of prayer and deep spiritual experience were his special characteristics. He was deeply interested in the rural development activities. Also being in charge of parishes in the Arabian Gulf area, he raised funds from there for the development of the Malabar area. He passed away while visiting parishes in the Andamans Islands and was buried at Tiruvalla.

11 April, 1917: Birth of Rev. J. Varghese, Karthikapally (d.31 Oct.2006). On 21 June, 1947, Rev. J. Varughese, Vicar of the Thumpamon Chennieerkkara Parish and many members of the parish were severely beaten in the Church compound in the midst of a funeral service by the non Christians of that area. The Church building was destroyed and the dead body along with the coffin was thrown out on the road. Communal tension prevailed in that area for many days and after the intervention of the government authorities, the body was buried again in our cemetery on the third day.

11 April, 1930: Death of Rev. W. C. Cherian (b.25 Jun 1878) Vattasseril, Mallappally. Brought up in an Anglican Church background in Mallappally, he later joined the Mar

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Thoma church. His ordination was held at the Maramon Mar Thoma church. His deep Biblical knowledge and leadership qualities were commendable. When the Church Constitution was formulated, he became the first Sabha Secretary (Samudaya Secretary) and held that post from 1904 - 1926. He took the initiative to establish the Union Convention in Mallappally.

12 April, 1799: Formation of the Church Mission Society. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted more than nine thousand men and women to serve as mission partners during its 200-year history. Today there are about 150 mission partners in 26 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. A budget of £7.02 million a year is needed to maintain and expand this work.

13 April, 1986: Pope visits Synagogue. Pope John Paul II visited a Jewish Synagogue in Rome, marking the first such visit by a Pope in the recorded history of the Roman Catholic Church.

14 April, 1911: Birth of Rev. Iype Thomas, Kovoor, Tiruvalla (d.25 Nov.1990) After his theological education in Bishop’s College Calcutta, he became a deacon on 28 Apr.1945 and priest on 16 Dec. 1945. He served 13 parishes including Kuriannoor, Maramon and Tiruvalla.

15 April, 1909: Birth of Rev. C. K. Mathai, Thurthicadu, (d.4 Aug 2000). Rev. C. K. Mathai became a deacon on 4 May 1935 and priest on 24 Nov.1935. Before his ordination he worked as a teacher and evangelist. He served many parishes including Madras, Kattanam, Kayamkulam and Kuriannoor.

15 April, 1958: Death of Rev. P. E. Thomas, Valliezhathu, Thalavady (b.31 May 1899). After his graduation, he became a deacon on 22 Aug.1931 and priest on 5 Nov.1932. For a few years he served as the North Travancore Missionary of the Evangelistic Association. He served the Kuriannoor Salem, Pazhanji, Chalisserry, Ernakulam, , and Trivandrum parishes.

16 April, 1913: Birth of Rev. C. V. George B.A. B.L, Chandanakuzhiyil, Ettichuvadu, Ranny. Rev. George was an Advocate (Lawyer). Before his ordination, he was in jail for almost a year for his participation in the Freedom movement of India. He became a priest in 1947. From 1947-1950 he was the General Secretary of the Mar Thoma Sunday School Samajam. He was the only Mar Thoma Priest who is recognized and awarded as a freedom fighter by the Government. He was the founder president of the Ranny Medical Mission. He passed away on 31 Oct.2001 and was buried at the Nazareth Mar Thoma church cemetery in Ranny.

17 April, 1874: Birth of Rev. M. C. George, Maliyekkal, Kuriannoor (d.13 Oct.1923). Rev. M. C. George became a deacon in Jan.1903 and priest in Feb.1904. For many years he taught at CMS and Mar Thomas Schools in various places. Once due to the absence of

7 www.nalloorlibrary.com foreign (speakers) Achen gave all 30 sermons at the Maramon Convention. Alexander Mar Thoma Metrapolitan is his son.

17 April, 1492: 's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella give Christopher Columbus a commission to seek a westward ocean passage to Asia. Though he was also interested in wealth, Columbus saw himself as a "Christ-bearer" who would carry Christ across the ocean to people who had never heard the .

17 April, 1955: M. M. Lukose Kassessa, Aattupurathu. Cherukole, Mavelikkara passes away. Lukose Kasseesa was born in 1878 and became priest in 1900. He was deeply interested in Gospel work. Seven families were converted in Chennithala due to Achen’s work. He led the construction of the Salem Mar Thoma Church (Chennithala South). Much of his income was spent for Gospel work and for the welfare of destitutes and orphans. Our Bishop, Rt. Rev. Mar Philoxenos is his grandson. Achen was called to rest on 17 April, 1955.

18 April, 1934: Birth of Rev. V. V. Thomas, Vattanilkunnathil, Nellikala (d.23 Jun 2000). Rev. V. V. Thomas became a deacon on 28 Aug 1968 and priest on 21 Sep 1968. He served many parishes including Edappavoor, Eraviperoor, Thonniyamala, Ayroor, Punalur and Elanthoor.

18 April, 1929: Sadhu Sunder Singh (b.3 Sep 1889) disappears on his way to Tibet. The mystery of the disappearance of Sadhu Sunder Singh after leaving Sabathu-near Tibet on 18th April 1929 has never been solved. The route he was to have taken was one he had often traveled before. Reports of his disappearance appeared in newspapers all over the world. No one knows what happened to him and how he died. By whatever means God took His servant home, He evidently did not intend it to be known. Sunder manifested into his life the verse written in Mark 8:35 which says, "For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for me and for the Gospel will save it.”

19 April, 2004: Rev. Abraham Lincoln, Vadakkethu, Kuriannoor (b.20 Aug 1939) passes away. Born as a member of the Vadakkethu family, Kuriannoor, he was a gifted hymn writer and singer. He was the General Secretary of the Yuvajana Sakhyam, Asst. Secretary of the Sunday School Samajam and Director of the Dept. of Sacred Music and Communication. He was called home on 19 Apr.2004 while he was serving as the director of the Spirituality Centre in Adoor. He was buried on 22 Apr.2004, in Kuriannoor at the St. Thomas Church Cemetery.

20 April, 1982: Rev. O. J. Joseph Malpan (b. 4 Apr.1904) passes away. Achen was the son of Joseph Malpan, Olasseril, Manganam. He was one of the rank holders of the Syriac Language Examination of Kerala University. For many years he was a teacher in M. T. Seminary School and the Mar Thoma Theological Seminary in Kottayam. In addition, he was an expert in treating eye ailments.

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20 April, 1995: Rev. M. V. Benjamin (b.9 Dec 1936), grandson of Sadhu Kochoonju Upadeshi, passes away. Born as a member of the Moothampakkal family of Edayaranmula, he became priest in 1962 and served 18 parishes. For a few years he was the Chaplain of Santhi Mandiram and Balika Bhavan in Elanthur.

20 April, 1938: Birth of V. M. Abraham Kasseesa, Valiyakalayil, Kuriannoor (d.5 Nov.1994). He started his career as the Asst. Secretary of the Yuvajana Sakhyam. He became a deacon on 20 Apr.1968 and priest later. For a few years he was the General Secretary and Vice president of the Yuvajana Sakhyam. He also served the Kumbanad Dharmagiri Mandiram and the Jubilee Mandiram in Kottarakkara.

20 April, 2001: Rev. C. M. Thomas, Ayroor (b.10 Apr.1907) passes away. Achen was the younger brother of Late. Dr. Juhanon Mar Thoma Metropolitan. He became a deacon on 12 Jul 1948 and priest afterwards. He served the Mar Thoma parishes in Ayroor, Kottayam, Pala and Kuriannoor. He was the Principal of the Kalalayam in Cherkolpuzha and the president of the Carmel Agathimandiram in Ayroor. His wife Mrs. Mariamma Thomas was the daughter of Very. Rev .V. P. Mammen Kasseesa.

20 April, 2001: Rev. M. S. , Karthikapally passes away (b.14 Oct.1911). He started his career as a teacher, then as an evangelist. He became a deacon on 13 May 1944 and priest on 13 Jul 1944. For a few years he was the South Travancore Missionary of the Evangelistic Association.

21 April, 1855: Conversion of D. L. Moody, one of the greatest Christian Preachers that ever lived. Edward Kimball, a Sunday School Teacher in Boston, leads 18-year-old shoe salesman Dwight L Moody to Christ at the Holton Shoe Store. Moody went on to become the most successful evangelist of his day.

22 April, 1864: The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act which mandates that the inscription "In God We Trust" be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.

23 April, 1968: Formation of the United Methodist Church. The Evangelical United Brethren Church joins with the much larger Methodist Church, forming the United Methodist Church, the largest Methodist group in the world and America’s second- largest Protestant Denomination.

23 April, 1852: Birth of Avira Philipose Kathanar, Chiramel, Thalavady (d.29 Apr.1915) Achen was ordained especially for the Padijarekkara Parish in Thalavady. (During his time priests were ordained for parishes, not for the church as a whole, transfer system was not yet in practice). He also served the Christos Parish in Nedumpuram.

23 April, 1936: Birth of Rev. T. G. Varghese, Punalur (d.28 Sep.2006). He became a deacon on 12 May 1962 and priest on 28 Jul 1962. He served thirty parishes including

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Punalur and Kottarakkara. For few years he was a member of the Managing committee of the Evangelistic Association.

24 April, 1581: Vincent de Paul, founder of the Lazarist Fathers and the Sisters of Charity, is born in Pouy, . The Roman Catholic Church named him of all works of charity because of his charity work during the Wars of Religion.

25 April, 1818: Birth of Mathews Mar Athanasius Metropolitan (d.16 Jul 1877) He became Bishop at the age 24 in Feb.1842. He was the Metropolitan of the church from 1842 to 1877. As the head of the church he worked hard for the education of the clergy and raising the moral standards of ordinary people. He was one of the ablest bishops the Syrian Churches ever had.

26 April, 1877: Residents of Minnesota (state located in the Midwestern region of the United States) observe a state-wide day of prayer, asking deliverance from a plague of grasshoppers that had ruined thousands of acres of crops. The plague ended during that summer.

27 April, 1667: Blind, bitter, and poor, Puritan poet John Milton (9 Dec.1608 – 8 Nov.1674) sells for ten pounds the copyright of Paradise Lost, a book that would influence English thought and language nearly as much as the and the plays of Shakespeare. The theme of the epic appears in its opening lines: "Of man's disobedience and the fruit / Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste / Brought death into the world, and all our woe, / With loss of Eden."

27 April, 1927: Death of K. O. Zachariah Kasseesa, Kuthoor Pengamukku, (Chakkante Valappil Achen, b.1890). He became priest after his theological education in Bishop’s college Calcutta. He was the vicar of Pazhanji, Kunnamkulam, Chalisserry and Tiruvalla parishes.

27 April, 1979: Death of K. V. Jacob Kasseesa, Anicadu (b.9 Nov.1879). He became deacon on 25 Jul 1909 and served parishes in Anicadu, Punnaveli and Kangazha. He had a blessed long life and faithfully served the church for 70 years.

27 April, 1995: Death of Rev. Abraham K Sastri, Elanthur (b.1 Oct 1921). After his preliminary education, Achen passed the Shastri examination (similar to that of our Late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri) and many examinations in Hindi language and was a scholar in Hindi. He had written many books including one poetry book. Achen was called to eternal rest on April 27, 1995.

28 April, 1954: Birth of Rev. George K. Daniel, (d.15 Aug.2006). He became a deacon on 12 June 1987 and priest on 25 June 1987. He was an evangelist in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. For a few years he was the South Travancore Missionary and the director of the De- addiction Centre in Malayalapuzha.

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29 April, 1915: Death of Avira Philipose Kathanar, Chiramel, Thalavady (b.23 Apr, 1852). Achen was ordained especially for the Padijarekkara Parish in Thalavady. (During his time priests were ordained for parishes, not for the church as a whole, transfer system was not yet in practice). He also served Christos Parish in Nedumpuram.

29 April, 1998: Death of Rev. T. J. Mathai, Kanniyaplazhikathu, Ashtamudi (b.20 Jan.1913). He became a deacon on 4 Mar 1935 and priest on 13 Sep 1936. He served 27 parishes including Pandanadu, Kollad, Kozhikode, and Kundara. After his retirement he served the Madras parish and the Vellore Medical College Chapel.

30 April, 1911: Ordination of Mr. M. N. Abraham (30 Oct 1880-1 Sep.1947) Metropolitan Titus II ordained Mr. M. N. Abraham and Mr. M. P. Pothen as on Sunday 30 April 1911 at the St. Thomas Mar Thoma Church in Tiruvalla. M. N. Abraham later became Abraham Mar Thoma Metropolitan and M. P. Pothen a missionary in Honavar, .

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